IT IS ELEMENTARY
Human Existence and the Chemical
Elements
SC 210
May 21, 2015
John Bush
POSSIBLE CATEGORIES FOR NEXT FALL
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Transportation-ground, air
Adornment-cosmetics, jewelry
Nutrition
Entertainment-movies, television, sports
Lighting
Construction-buildings, infrastructure
Energy storage-batteries, capacitors, flywheels
Other….
HOMICIDAL POISONING
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Criminal (murder)
Suicidal
State sanctioned—Judicial/Military
Accidental
– Industrial
– Domestic
– Environmental
PARACELSUS
“All things are poison and nothing is without
poison; only the dose makes a thing not a
poison” (1538)
POISONOUS ELEMENTS
U.S. POISON CONTROL CENTERS
FATALITIES 2013
LEAD Pb (Plumbum)
ELEMENTAL LEAD
LEAD(II) ACETATE
SUGAR OF LEAD
LEAD POISONING-EXAMPLES
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Vernon California: battery recycling plant
Northern Nigeria: gold mining
Mexico: lead glazed pottery
United States: lipstick?
PARACELSUS
“All things are poison and nothing is without
poison; only the dose makes a thing not a
poison” (1538)
GOODBYE TO POISONING AND
HELLO TO TEXTING
• Landline telegraphy
• Radio telephony
• Smartphones
INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION AT A
DISTANCE
• Pre-1850s: information was primarily
conveyed by moving materials
• Post 1850s: information is carried by electrons
or photons (radio waves or light beams)
– Landline telegraph-Internet of the 19th century
– Landline telephone
– Wireless telegraph and telephone
– Digitized information
• 2115 quantum entanglement ?
MATERIALS NEEDED FOR
LANDLINE TELEGRAPHY
• Electrical conductors
• Electromagnets
• Batteries/Power supplies
ELEMENTS
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Iron
Copper
Battery materials: copper, zinc, nickel, iron…
Solders: lead, antimony, bismuth…
ELEMENTS: THE METALS
SOME COMMON PROPERTIES OF
METALLIC ELEMENTS
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Optical- reflectivity, color
Mechanical
Thermal- conductivity
Electrical- conductivity
Magnetic—ferromagnetic, paramagnetic,
diamagnetic
– “Hard” permanent
– “Soft” transient
CONDUCTING HEAT AND ELECTRICITY
Relative to Iron @ 25° C
Heat
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Silver
4.3
Copper
4.0
Gold
3.2
Iron
1.0
Lead
0.3
Silicon
1.5
Carbon (diamond) 29
*Undoped
Electricity
5.4
5.0
4.0
1.0
0.4
0.02*
0.00001*
SOME FERROMAGNETIC ELEMENTS
Element
•Cobalt
•Iron
•Nickel
Curie Temperature
1115° C
770° C
354° C
IRON
IRON (Fe, FERRUM)
• Atomic number: 26, Isotopes 54*, 56,57,58
• Abundance 4th in crust (5%)
• Meteoric iron Egypt 3500 BCE; Smelted iron Syria
3000 BCE
• Uses: construction of buildings, bridges, cars and
boats, tools and machinery; magnets; alloys;
nutritional supplements and fertilizers; catalysts…
• Limitation: reactivity with oxygen to form rust
Jonathan Waldman, Rust: The Longest War
COPPER
NATIVE COPPER
COPPER SCRAP
COPPER (Cu, CUPRUM))
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Atomic number 29, Isotopes 63, 65
Abundance 26th in crust (50 ppm)
In use since about 9000 BCE
Uses: electrical wire and cable, electric
motors, plumbing, electronics, architecture,
jewelry, pigments, glass making, wood
preservatives, brass, bronzes
• Some former uses: weapons, batteries
ELEMENTS NEEDED FOR:
LANDLINE TELEPHONY
• Critical invention-a means to make the
strength of an electrical signal vary with the
tones of speech
• Microphone
– Carbon granules
– Silicon microphones
• Speaker
– Suspended coil speakers
– Thermoacoustic “speakers on a chip”
CARBON (C)
• Atomic number 6 Isotopes 12, 13, 14*
• Abundance 15th in the crust (1000 ppm)
• Soot and charcoal probably known before
modern humans existed; diamonds known by
2500 BCE
• Uses
– Compounds-more than 10 million are known
– Element-gems, abrasives, fibers, vehicle parts,
electrodes, pigments, adsorbents, lubricants…
FORMS OF CARBON
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Diamond
Amorphous carbon
Graphite
Carbon fibers
Graphene
Fullerenes (“Buckyballs”)
Carbon nanotubes
FORMS OF CARBON
DIAMOND
GRAPHITE
NANOTUBES
SOME STRUCTURES
NANOTUBES AND BUCKYBALLS
COLLAPSED NANOTUBES
AMORPHOUS
CARBON
PHOSPHORUS (P)
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Atomic number 15 Isotope 31
Isolated 1669 Recognized as elemental 1777
Abundance 11th in the crust (1300 ppm)
Current Uses: military weapons, fertilizers (an
essential nutrient), baking powder, pesticides,
electronics doping silicon, safety matches
• Former uses: detergents(US), strike-anywhere
matches
• Future Use: phosphorene augmenting silicon
in electronics?
ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS NEEDED FOR:
RADIO TELEPHONES
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Vacuum tubes
Resistors
Capacitors
Inductors
(Gyrators)
VACUUM TUBES
SILICON
ELEMENTAL SILICON
SILICON CAMERA CHIP
SILICON DIOXIDE
QUARTZ SAND
OPAL
SILICON (Si)
• Atomic number 14, Isotopes 28, 29, 30
• Abundance 2nd in the crust (28%)
• Isolated from the oxide: amorphous 1823,
crystalline 1854; silicene 2010
• Uses: building materials, ceramics, glass,
silicones, alloys, electronics: transistors,
integrated circuits, solar cells, liquid crystal
displays
FORMS OF ELEMENTAL SILICON
• Crystalline—diamond structure
• Amorphous
• Silicene—monolayer graphite-like structure
THE PERIODIC TABLE STIMULATES
RESEARCH
THR PRTIODIC
TUNGSTEN
TUNGSTEN
TUNGSTEN FILAMENT
TUNGSTEN CARBIDE
TUNGSTEN (W)
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Atomic number 74 five isotopes-radioactive
Abundance 19th in Earth’s crust (1.1 ppm)
Discovered 1781, isolated 1783
Highest melting point, lowest vapor pressure
metallic element
• Uses: Vacuum tube/light bulb filaments, x-ray
targets, cutting tools, jewelry, catalysts, alloys,
deceptive gold
TRANSISTOR RADIO
PERSONAL COMPUTER
CELLPHONE
SMARTPHONES
APPLE WATCH
SMARTPHONES USE THE ELEMENTS FOR
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Phone/Wi Fi interfaces
Processor/memory chips
Vibration units
Cameras
Microphones/headphones/speakers
Color/touch screens
Batteries
Casings
SMARTPHONES: ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION
• Screen/display: indium, tin, aluminum, silicon;
sodium/potassium, rare earths, oxygen
• Electronics: copper, gold, silver, tin, tantalum,
nickel, silicon-dopants such as phosphorus,
arsenic, antimony, boron, indium, gallium
(hafnium, titanium, aluminum, nitrogen),
tungsten, oxygen, rare earths
SMARTPHONES: ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION
• Casing: carbon, bromine, nickel, aluminum,
magnesium
• Microphone/speaker: iron, boron, rare earths
• Vibration unit: iron, boron, rare earths
• Battery: lithium, cobalt, carbon, oxygen,
phosphorus, boron, fluorine
ELEMENTS OF SMARTPHONES
RARE EARTH ELEMENTS
NEODYMIUM
NdFeB
MAGNETS
NEODYMIUM METAL
NEODYMIUM (Nd)
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Atomic number 60 Seven “stable” isotopes
Abundance 28th in crust (38 ppm)
Discovered 1885 Carl Auer von Welsbach
Current Uses: lasers, NdFeB magnets-hard disk
drives, loudspeakers and headphones,
electric motors (e.g. hybrid vehicles, power
tools),electric generators(e.g. wind turbines)
APPLICATIONS OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS
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Hybrid and electric cars: Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb
Catalytic converters: Ce, La
Wind power generators: Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb
Efficient lighting: Y, Eu, Tb
Hard disk drives: Nd,Pr, Dy, Tb
Flat panel display screens: Y, Eu, Tb, Gd, Pr, Ce
Magnets for miniature components: Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb, Y, Eu
ELEMENTS OF SMARTPHONES
COBALT
ELEMENTAL COBALT
TARGET
14TH CENTURY CHINESE VASE
COBALT
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Atomic number 27 Isotope 59
Abundance 32nd in crust (20 ppm)
Identified as an element 1732
Current uses: essential in diet-vitamin B12,
gamma ray source (60Co), pigments, high
temperature-resistant alloys, wear-resistant
alloys, magnetic alloys, batteries
ELEMENTS OF SMARTPHONES
TANTALUM
ELEMENTAL TANTALUM
TANTALUM CAPACITORS
TANTALUM
• Atomic number 73 Isotopes 2
• Abundance 52nd in crust (1.5 ppm}
• Discovered 1802, recognized as an element
1844
• Uses: medical implants, bone repair, alloys,
capacitors in mobile phones, computers,
CONFLICT ELEMENTS
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Rare earth elements
Carbon-diamond
Gold
Cobalt
Tantalum
NEXT WEEK
A BRIEF HISTORY
• Finding the elements
• Constructing the periodic table